Giving Context to Abstract Measurements
It's difficult to comprehend the differences among nations' standards of living. We can read that China's per-capita GDP is around $5,000 per year, but there's rarely any context given to important figures measuring human development and prosperity.

One unfortunate consequence of this lack of context is that we as voters make decisions about issues like free trade and international migration without adequately comprehending the universe in which those decisions are made.

The following attempts to represent some of the major indicators of human economic development in a context that illustrates the United States' comparable development over the last century. Measurements like these are never precise, but taken together, they offer us a reasonable barometer of development.

Measures of Economic Development
Here, we compare a variety of measures of economic development for the world's 20 most populous nations to the same measures in United States history.

Populations of the World's 20 Most Populous Countries in Historical Context

Note: This metric, though imperfect, helps to indicate which nations are dependent upon labor-intensive, first-order production in order to feed themselves. As agriculture improves, it typically requires less labor, freeing those workers to build real economic growth rather than relying on subsistence.

From these tables, we can extract a rough summary, approximating the comparable time period in US history to which each nation's development corresponds in the different categories measured.

Country

Pop

GDP

Telephones

Life Expectancy

Literacy (M)

Literacy (F)

Ag

Electricity

Bangladesh

1950

1930

1900

1940

1900

1900

1940

1910

Brazil

1970

1940

1980

1980

1900

1900

1960

1950

China

Now

1930

1980

1980

1900

1900

1950

1940

Egypt

1910

1930

1950

1980

1900

1900

1950

1940

Ethiopia

1900

1930

1900

1910

1900

1900

1930

1900

France

1900

1990

Now

Now

Now

Now

Now

1970

Germany

1910

1990

Now

Now

Now

Now

Now

1970

India

Now

1930

1920

1950

1900

1900

1930

1920

Indonesia

1990

1930

1980

1960

1900

1900

1950

1920

Iran

1900

1930

1980

1970

1900

1900

1950

1950

Japan

1940

1990

Now

Now

Now

Now

Now

1970

Mexico

1920

1950

1980

1990

1910

1910

1980

1950

Nigeria

1940

1930

1900

1900

1900

1900

1930

1910

Pakistan

1960

1930

1900

1950

1900

1900

1930

1920

Philippines

1910

1930

1980

1970

1920

1920

1950

1930

Russia

1950

1950

1980

1950

Now

Now

1970

1970

Thailand

1900

1940

1980

1980

1910

1910

1960

1940

Turkey

1900

1930

Now

1980

1900

1900

1960

1950

United States

Now

Now

Now

Now

1960

1960

Now

1990

Vietnam

1910

1930

1920

1970

1900

1900

1940

1920

Notes of Interest

The United States has actually slipped in literacy performance since the 1960s

China and India are both all over the map, which is troubling given their growing roles as trade and strategic competitors. China, for instance, has a relatively high life expectancy but literacy rates (especially for women) comparable only to the United States at the beginning of the century. India is well behind the US in virtually all measures, which makes it all the more intriguing to consider how jobs contracted to India by US tech firms are being absorbed and adapted to.

Most Americans are vaguely aware of "poverty" in the Third World, but it's quite another thing to realize that Ethiopia, home to more people than France, is in an economic sense really comparable to the United States around the turn of the last century. It should be troubling both from a humanitarian sense and from a geostrategic sense. From a Golden Rule standpoint, people don't deserve strictly by chance of birth to live without access to many of the comforts of the developed world. Simultaneously, from a post-9/11 viewpoint, in a world of quick international transportation, terrorist orthodoxies, and weapons of mass destruction, it's important to have the foresight to realize where trouble may be brewing.

Conclusion
With these measures in mind, we can thoughtfully consider what policies are likely to bring about more efficient growth in the places where it is most needed. Those factors are widely addressed and debated within the economic community, but a few recurrent themes stand out:

Widespread access to basic infrastructure and essential services, like education

Unfortunately, many activist "champions" of the world's poor are stridently, if not violently, opposed to many of the most important tools, especially stable monetary policy and access to trade. A real commitment to the improvement of many of the world's lives would benefit from a serious and fair evaluation of those factors leading to growth, not nonsense rhetoric about "exploitation" and violent protests.